Auditor’s deputy admits sending campaign email on county computer
Post-Tribune
September 30, 2014
Updated: October 1, 2014
VALPARAISO – The chief deputy in Porter County Auditor Bob Wichlinski’s office used his work email in late September to send a candidate questionnaire, apparently at Wichlinski’s behest.
The federal court system has statutes against campaigning during business hours, said Bob Ramsey, supervisory special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
“It’s an offense that could be charged if it’s proven. It has caused problems for politicians and impacted their political life and their personal life,” he said. “Is it proper to do? I think you’re flirting with some danger there, given what’s happened to politicians in the past.”
Wichlinski did not return a call seeking comment.
In Lake County, former Surveyor George Van Til is awaiting federal sentencing for using employees in his office to campaign during the work day, among other offenses.
The Post-Tribune received a copy of the email, sent during the workday on Sept. 19 from Ryan Kubal’s Porter County email address, through a public records request to County Attorney Elizabeth Knight.
The email contains the subject line “Robert J. Wichlinski Candidate Questionaire” (sic) and is addressed to Joe Wszolek, chief operating officer for the Greater Northern Indiana Association of Realtors. It was sent at 1:04 p.m.
The attachment is a three-page response to the Realtors Political Action Committee trustee candidate questionnaire, used by GNIAR to determine which candidates to support for the Nov. 4 general election.
Kubal confirmed that he sent the document.
“Bob asked me,” Kubal said. “He gave me something earlier in the day, so I scanned it in and forwarded it to (Wszolek). I have no clue what it is. Bob asked me to scan it in and send it, so I did.”
Wszolek said his office often speaks with political candidates looking for endorsements at election time, as do other organizations.
His role is to gather that information, which is confidential, so members can decide which candidates to support, he said, declining to confirm or deny he received the email. GNIAR’s membership includes real estate agents throughout the area, including Porter County.
The incident also may be a breach of the county’s personnel handbook.
While employees can engage in political activity when they are not at work, the manual prohibits employees and elected officials from using “county materials, funds, property, personnel, facilities or equipment for any purpose other than for official county business.”
The manual also states that employees and elected officials “shall not engage in or direct others to engage in work other than the performance of official duties during work hours.”
Wichlinski, a Republican, is seeking a second term in office against Democrat Vicki Urbanik.
The matter troubled Urbanik.
“The issue is, did Bob direct his employee to do this on county time?” she said. “To me, it’s an absolute violation of common sense and ethical behavior of an official.”
